Could stress and anxiety over the state of the economy explain why so many celebrity chefs are getting a bit belligerent as of late? Anthony Bourdain went out of his way to launch a verbal assault on Alice Waters recently. And the war between Mario Batali and Gordon Ramsay has been heating up in recent days, too. Apparently, Batali made some critical comments about the Hell's Kitchen star more than a year ago, a move that prompted Ramsay to start calling Batali "fanta pants" in honor of the orange shorts he's long been fond of.

The Babbo co-owner upped the ante this week by telling theGuardian that he'd since banned Ramsay from his restaurants. It's unclear if Ramsay is really banned, but Ramsay is now firing back, telling People that it's "really sad" that Batali has so much animosity, since the two have "never met." He then goes to take a dig at one of Batali's restaurants, recounting a meal that was so "embarrassing," one of the people at his table had to send back a sea bass entree "because it was off."